Saturday, December 3, 2016

21 Square, named because the city is approximately 21 square miles, is the latest addition to the Torrance food and beverage landscape. It is located inside the Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach. A lot of attention was placed on creating a cool coastal vibe. I liked the uniqueness of the interior decor - the walls featured the city of Torrance in a creative way. The venue extended outdoors with a beautiful fire pit and adjacent seating.

The “21st Mule” is their version of the ever popular cocktail with Tito’s® vodka, ginger beer and fresh squeezed lime. I enjoyed both the presentation and the taste of “El Dude”. This is their house-made creation of Fugu Horchata vodka and Kahlua.
In addition to the their cocktails, they feature wine and ten beers on tap. They’ve partnered with Absolution Brewing to create their own exclusive brew and that’s only available at 21 Square. It is a smooth ale and probably a great beginner’s entry into craft beer. In fact they make their delicious fish & chips using this very brew!
The LYB (Loosen Your Belt) is a shareable dish consisting of tater tots, capicola, mortadella, salami, sausage, cheddar, mozzarella, chopped scallions and topped with a poached egg. It’s is the perfect item to share with a draft beer.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Doma Kitchen is a fairly new restaurant located in South
Redondo Beach as it has been open less than one year. Recently I had the
opportunity to experience their new spring menu.

While I’ve dined at Doma Kitchen a number of times, it was
primarily for breakfast. They've now extended their hours into the early
evening and I was curious about their offerings.

Doma Kitchen occupies a very small lot. In fact, the kitchen
takes the entire space of the building. A beautifully stained wood fence
surrounds the perimeter to create a patio-like setting. Dining is exclusively
al fresco and Doma Kitchen has set up colorful tent canopies and heaters to
keep diners comfortable during cool evenings. Colorful artwork from local
artists adorn their walls.

Co-owner Angie Corrente gave us an overview of the evening’s
menu. She explained that she and co-owner Stan Mayzalis have traveled the world
and as a result, they wanted Doma Kitchen to reflect their love for global
cuisine.

We were blown away to learn that we would experience
breakfast, lunch and dinner in a matter of only 2 hours. Fortunately, the portion sizes were small, but that was still a lot of food to consume in one sitting.

Breakfast

Our “breakfast” was served promptly and efficiently. Doma
Kitchen’s Pancetta Scramble with home fries arrived to our table first. Unlike
some that use a pancetta that is more ‘ham-like’, Doma Kitchen uses a very good
quality pancetta which is full of flavor. This combined with the scrambled eggs
and scallions made for a tasty dish.

The others at my table were definitely drawn to the sweet
offerings. Fresh Belgian waffles were served with a homemade chocolate sauce
and fresh fruit, nutella and bananas and vanilla creme. The waffle was ultra
crispy and I was surprised that it wasn’t dense.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

While Baleen Kitchen, hidden inside the Portofino Hotel, is relatively unknown to those not living in the South Bay, it tends to be to go-to special occasion restaurant for Redondo Beach locals. I personally had only been for lunch more than 2 years ago but remembered liking it. For Valentine's Day, they've put together a 5-course menu for $85 ($115 with wine pairing). I got to taste three of the menu items as a preview.

There will be an amuse Bouche of Shaved tuna, chili tapioca, lime sorbet

The lime sorbet added a really nice texture and temperature contrast to the dish.

Grilled maitake salad, avocado, haricot vert, heirloom tomato

I like how the focus on the dish is still the salad, with maitake accompanying each bite. The crisp vegetables combined with the earthy mushrooms get your appetite going. The other appetizer option is the Peekytoe crab cake.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

I LOVE tamales but I have a hard time to find ones that are just right for me. I want them filled with things I like, for example I'm always looking for a blue corn tamale but the ones here are usually only filled with cheese. So, when Ortega 120 offered me to attend one of their tamale making class, I thought it sounded fun. The tamale class is only held in December since tamales are apparently a holiday tradition. The chef said that his family would always say that way you will always have something to unwrap for Christmas!

The hands-on tamale class was completely full (and they were all women, which was kind of expected)

The $40 class also includes a glass of their house margarita and food

Ortega has their own masa, made with Canola oil so it's healthier but still moist. You can buy their masa to go at the restaurant, or you can also buy traditional masa at Mexican bakeries. They had prepared the masa for us and the filling which included chicken and beef tinga, chili and cheese. They provided the recipes for these fillings, but during the class all we had to do was assemble them.

Spreading the masa on the corn husk was harder than I expected at first, since you don't want it to be too thick, though eventually I got used to it.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Not so long ago, Redondo Beach in my mind consisted of a crowded beach and the pier (which has Izakaya Bincho and Quality Seafood, both great). Enter Baleen Los Angeles at the Portofino Hotel and Yacht Club, a much quieter, less touristy spot away from the pier.

The Chef's Burger

The restaurant's layout seems a strange one when you walk in. Instead of a big dining room, there's only one row of tables, all of them provide a view of the marina and yachts.

Baleen recently launched a new lunch menu. I wasn't able to come to their media lunch so they invited me over on another day - a beautiful Saturday afternoon, perfect for dining al fresco by the water. Judging from the customers coming in while I was there, seems like this is the spot for local residents to have their casual lunch and family reunions.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Walking through the Redondo Beach Boardwalk, every whiff of air you take smells of the ocean. Yes, I meant "fishy" but I thought this might be a place of euphemism. You're right by the ocean surrounded by seafood restaurants, so it's no wonder it smells fishy. But ... you smell more ... could it be ...? Yep, there they are! Live tanks of fish and shellfish at Quality Seafood.

Quality is the place for cheap fresh fishy treats.They have fish, crabs, etc, but we went straight to this tank here:Live uni. They opened it up and the spikes were still wriggling as the guy put the uni on the plate. One live uni served on a styrofoam plate, $5.60. Oh yeah.They also have a pretty big selection of fresh oysters, I remember about 10 types, ranging from $1.50-$1.90 each! I got three oysters, including two Kumamotos at $1.90.It's so fresh, all you need is a squeeze of lemon and slurp it!